Ashworth or rapid feeder ?

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Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
696
Reaction score
56
Location
sarf london/surrey
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
5 hives
My 5 hives have access to IVY and are so dont really need feeding but read on here that its nice to give them a couple of litres of 2:1 with thymol as a profilatic against nosema.

So will give that a go this year.


I have two rapid feeders a got some free 2nd hand ashworth feeders for the paynes polys

I am not looking to feed them loads .. so should I stick with the rapid feeder option .. or can I just fill one side of an ashworth ?
 
An ash worth is a rapid feeder
Just bigger than the 2L plastic ones
Doesn’t matter how you give it
Just make sure they are winter weight when they need to be.
 
I've just bought an Abelo ashforth feeder, planning on buying another so both my poly hives have one.
It's been a bit boring topping up the little rapid feeders too often and I can imagine it will get more boring the more hives I own.
 
basically dont over feed right ?

That's right. Feeding is always a balancing act. You can have too much of a good thing. As Dani says, just check your pre winter weight and get in the habit of practising hefting and you will not need scales to monitor through winter.
 
I've just bought an Abelo ashforth feeder, planning on buying another so both my poly hives have one.
It's been a bit boring topping up the little rapid feeders too often and I can imagine it will get more boring the more hives I own.

Not just that - when sorting out winter stores you want the supply to be in volume and continuous, you will find that if there is a pause in the supply of syrup, the bees will just stop taking it down, even if there is room and you know they need more. So the trick is to pile it on as quickly and continually as possible, if you're unable to get to the hive every day (sometimes twice a day) a larger feeder is always better.
You will be surprised at how quickly they hoover it up.
 
thanks for the info

guess from sunny surrey I am not looking for big feeding ... they are on double brood and have lots of IVY are still busy and the weather is good etc ...so I am just ticking the winter feed nosema box with 2 litres of 2:1/thymol for each hive

so guess either feeder works fine
 
Don't guess.
All my colonies are on double brood and piling in the ivy. 13 hives all very well off for stores, but one was very light, so that one is being fed. - a lot.
 
Not just that - when sorting out winter stores you want the supply to be in volume and continuous, you will find that if there is a pause in the supply of syrup, the bees will just stop taking it down, even if there is room and you know they need more. So the trick is to pile it on as quickly and continually as possible, if you're unable to get to the hive every day (sometimes twice a day) a larger feeder is always better.
You will be surprised at how quickly they hoover it up.

Ah that's good - I put the feeder on my lighter hive, the recently re-queened one and filled with about 8 litres of syrup. Had to stop there as I realised my hive needed a slight re-levelling.

That should get them about the same "heft-feel" as the other hive.

If that phrase hasn't been coined yet it's mine :laughing-smiley-004
 
I've just bought an Abelo ashforth feeder, planning on buying another so both my poly hives have one.
It's been a bit boring topping up the little rapid feeders too often and I can imagine it will get more boring the more hives I own.

I have 4 litre rapid feeders..i put them on and filled them up yesterday and five out of six where empty..the hives are still too light so i filled them up again today and from past experience i will be doing this for the next two/three weeks as i am away from the main hives for four days of the week..these colonies only have access to snow berry flowers at the moment but not in big amounts so that is why they are not up to weight yet.........

The two colonies in my Mothers garden have access to Himalayan Balsam and are piling nectar and pollen in..i filled their feeders up on Saturday which are just about empty and will need filling again tomorrow..but they are still a tad light so i will give them another four litres each and then see what weight they have in them..

It is a bit of a balancing act really but once you get the hang of how heavy a hive should be at this time of the year from hefting you can then do away with your scales and judge which colony needs feeding and which does not.
 
Get larger feeders, like say 10 litre feeders, Ashforth or equivalent.
Generally you only need to refill every other day :)
 
Get larger feeders, like say 10 litre feeders, Ashforth or equivalent.
Generally you only need to refill every other day :)

Larger feeders are definitely on the cards.. but 15 supers + frames are my next priority for next year's project..funds dependent.we will see..;)
 
first time using the ashworth feeder

so used the ashworth feeders the other day and gave them a few litres of winter feed

question tho ...... when the syrup is finished up ... the bees seem to have then snuck under the glass retaining wall and then considered it an eke so was lots of them inside it when I went to remove it.

is that normal .. or did I not have the glass wall retainer down hard enough and the gap was too big ?
 
Not down far enough...bees should not be able to enter feeder when empty. Either that or you have a duff feeder.
 

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